In The NoCo

An ancient collection of dice discovered by archaeologists might rewrite the history of how humans have understood mathematical concepts like probability.  

A new Colorado State University study examined the earliest known dice in human history.  Native American hunter-gatherers across the western U.S. first used the dice as early as 12,000 years ago.  

Robert Madden, the CSU researcher behind the finding, says these dice weren't just for entertainment. They were tools of commerce. They helped people barter and trade goods – and also helped shape early thinking about probability and other math concepts. 

Robert spoke with Erin O’Toole earlier this year about the discovery and what it reveals about humanity’s long-running fascination with games of chance. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Renewable energy is becoming cheaper and more common. Just a few months ago, Colorado generated the majority of its electricity from renewable sources for the first time. 

And that raises questions about which sources do the most good. Wind or solar? Hydroelectric or geothermal? 

A researcher at the University of Colorado set out to find answers about what forms of renewable energy are most effective at reducing carbon emissions and improving air quality. 

Dan Kaffine is a professor of economics and a fellow at the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute at CU Boulder. He studies energy and renewables. He joined Erin O’Toole to talk about his research, which he recently published in The Energy Journal.  

If you enjoyed this conversation, listen to our recent interview with Will Toor, head of the Colorado Energy Office, about how the state generated the majority of its power from renewables for the first time recently. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Recent storms have given the Front Range relief after an unusually hot and dry start to the season.  Lawns look a little greener – and Denver Water, one of the state's largest providers, says customers' usage actually dropped because of the rain.  

So, you might think that all these afternoon showers surely mean reservoirs are filling back up, and we can relax a bit on conserving water. But the reality is that Colorado is still deep in a drought – and still reeling from a lack of snowpack last winter.  

Reporter Michael Booth recently wrote about this for the Colorado Sun. He joined me to talk about how the recent storms helped, how they didn’t, and what the months ahead look like.   

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Could planting aspen groves slow the spread of wildfires in Colorado’s forests? 

It’s an idea that could help some mountain communities seeing increased threats from wildfires. And it’s backed up by several recent studies, including one that looked at 20 years of data from more than 300 wildfires in Western states. It found that large aspen groves often slowed the spread of forest fires. That’s partly because aspen contain more moisture than other trees in mountain forests.  

So, should mountain communities across Colorado plant aspens on the outskirts of town?  

To find out, Erin O’Toole talked last year with Camille Stevens-Rumann. She’s a professor of forest and rangeland stewardship at Colorado State University and was the principal investigator on the 2025 study. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

For more on aspen trees, listen to this episode about why aspens rarely thrive when planted in yards.  

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Colorado's business climate is hurting.  

Over the past 18 months, the state lost more than 6,000 jobs.  A CNBC ranking of top states for business saw Colorado slide from a top-10 position four years ago to 25th this year. And a coalition of tech and other business leaders recently issued a letter warning that Colorado’s high cost of living and excessive regulations are bad for business.  

Gov. Jared Polis says he's addressing it. Last month he launched a council to help make the state more competitive. And he directed the state's Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) to hold listening sessions with employers.  

But with the governor’s term ending in January, his time to act is limited.  

Gov. Polis and Eve Lieberman, executive director of OEDIT, joined Erin O'Toole to discuss how state leaders hope to quickly turn the tide.

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

On Nov. 7, 1893, men in Colorado did something extraordinary for the time: They granted women the right to vote – which made Colorado the first state to do that not by legislative action or executive order, but by a vote of the people.  

It was a moment of triumph for activists who fought for women's suffrage for decades. It meant women in Colorado could vote 27 years before that right was granted to all women, with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. 

And they used that victory as a springboard to get things done – from electing women to political office in the state, to helping women secure more economic power. 

A new History Colorado exhibit, Votes and Dreams: At the Ballot and Beyond, highlights those accomplishments. It’s on display now at the Center for Colorado Women’s History in Denver.  

 Exhibit developer Margaux Miller joined Erin O'Toole to share more about it.

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

For decades, Warren Miller was synonymous with a very Colorado genre of film. 

In Miller’s films, skiers glide across pristine winter terrain and hurtle down near-vertical slopes. Over the decades, Miller and his film crews turned those images into dozens of feature-length documentaries that celebrated the thrill of a day on the mountain – and also captured the poetry of skiing.  

Miller died in 2018 at the age of 93. Now, his work and legacy are the subject of a new exhibit at the Colorado Snowsports Museum in Vail.  

The museum’s executive director, Jen Mason, spoke earlier this year with Erin O’Toole about how Miller's movies defined an entire genre of sports documentary known as the “stoke” film. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Every summer in Colorado’s high country, yellow-bellied marmots race to gain enough weight to make it through months of hibernation. But this year’s meager snowpack and early spring have put that survival strategy under new pressure.  

Scientists with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory near Crested Butte have studied individual marmots in the wild for more than six decades. And they say that understanding what's happening with these mammals reveals a lot about the overall health of high-alpine ecosystems. 

This month, the RMBL Marmot Project is set to turn serious science into a fun public competition with the launch of the first-ever Fat Marmot Week – a bracket-style tournament that invites the public to vote for the marmot who’s most ready for winter. 

Dan Blumstein co-leads the Marmot Project. He's a biologist and UCLA professor who has spent many years studying different species of marmots. He joined Erin O'Toole to talk about their research into these chunky, ground-dwelling mammals. 

The RMBL team is introducing new marmots to the competition on Mondays and Fridays. Voting runs from Aug. 24 – Aug. 29.  

The team recently launched an OnlyFans account to help raise money. Blumstein says it provides "uncensored – but G-rated – marmot content." 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

If you read the Colorado Sun, you might be familiar with the comic strip called ‘What’d I Miss?’ It follows conversations between Ossie, a young Black man, and Myra, an older white woman who has awakened from a long coma.   

Together they struggle to understand modern day politics and culture. Ossie and Myra talk about issues like artificial intelligence, disinformation on social media and more recently, the rise of the ultra-rich in America. 

‘What’d I Miss?’ is written by Denver-based artist R. Alan Brooks. He also writes graphic novels and teaches graphic novel writing at Regis University. This weekend, he will be a featured guest at Fort Collins Comic Con.  

Erin O’Toole spoke with Brooks in 2024 about his work and how he uses comics and graphic novels to unpack current events and culture. We're listening back to that conversation today. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Railroads transformed the American West – and immigrant labor made the railroads possible. But many of those immigrants’ stories haven’t been well documented - including those of the Mexican railroad workers known as traqueros. 

Beginning in the late 1800s, railroad companies recruited thousands of Mexican and Mexican-American workers to build and maintain the tracks.  At one time, Mexican workers made up more than two-thirds of the railway labor force in the U.S.  Many traqueros brought their families with them to settle in Colorado and other parts of the country. 

These workers played a key role in the railroads’ expansion well into the mid 20th century, including during World War II, when another initiative was used to bring in Mexican laborers to build tracks. 

An exhibit at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden highlights the legacy of the traqueros. Jasmine Robertson, Curator of Exhibits at the museum, spoke with Erin O'Toole about this often-overlooked piece of American history and culture. 

 Traqueros: Mexican Trackworkers and the American Railroad is open through the end of August. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.